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CKL Plays (Modern) – “Esper Geistflayer”

Last week, in the article I wrote about brewing with Soulflayer, I shared two early decklists that were built with the card in mind. It seemed to me that with all the Tasigur and Gurmag Angler floating around modern, there could be a shell in which Soulflayer was even stronger. One of the lists, a 4C Gifts list really took advantage of the card’s abilities to gain 11 different keywords. In the second one, I aimed for more of a control strategy in which Soulflayer functioned as a finisher. That was the “Esper Geistblade” deck.

In this shell, Soulflayer can gain hexproof, flying, lifelink, deathtouch, or indestructible when one of your creatures gets sent to the graveyard by removal or put their by your own Thought Scour. The indestructibility comes form the one-of Thassa in the main deck which also functions as a tool to smooth out draws and give one of the Geists “unblockable”. The list changed a bit after a few more games of testing and the number of Flayers in the main changed to 2. Thoughts for other changes to the deck include some number of Mirran Crusader in the sideboard as well as a potential transformative sideboard that features a Gifts Ungiven package to cast Sphinx of the Steel Wind or Akroma. I’m thinking that this might be a little too greedy but sounds like a lot of fun. The deck is relatively consistent as it stands and has a good game grixis-style decks and midrange green-based decks that are common in the meta right now.